20 Feb 07. The United States has plans to jointly produce military hardware in Saudi Arabia, Gulf News reported. The project would turn out tank components, light armoured vehicles and other products, according to a senior US military official who spoke with the newspaper. Egypt is currently the United States’ biggest co-producer in the Middle East, where M1A1 tanks are made. “In Saudi Arabia we are still in the planning phase, though the project initially will not be as big as what we have in Egypt, but there is good potential for growth there,” Brigadier General Clinton Anderson, head of the US Army’s Security Assistance Command, told Gulf News.
22 Feb 07. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has selected Rockwell Collins to lead Phase 1 of a research and development effort under the Miniature Common Data Link (Mini-CDL) program. This initiative is aimed at miniaturizing Ku-band radio technology and developing a terminal capable of supporting Small Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS). Rockwell Collins is teamed with Cubic Defense Applications to develop the Mini-CDL system, and Softronics will assist with the development. The first phase of the development will leverage innovative digital and RF technologies including state-of-the-art system on chip modems and other technologies to achieve a small, affordable, low-power, low-weight tactical solution. The goal is to develop CDL terminals that meet the payload restrictions of SUAS platforms and enable data link communication with existing ground systems.